The Bodies in the Woods
by stephaniew
Summary: Trying my hand at putting a case in with my B&B romance! Serial killer, romance, angst, fluff, it'll all be here! Please R&R! *Back from a long hiatus!
1. The Dumping Ground

**A/N**: Trying my hand at including some case stuff along with my B&B relationship fascination. Being as how I was an English major in college, please forgive any forensic errors I might have made! There'll be some ansty, romanc-y stuff coming, along with some danger and hopefully catching the bad guy! Please let me know if you like or don't like!

**Disclaimer**: Wouldn't be writing this stuff if I owned Bones now would I?

* * *

Chapter 1 – The Dumping Ground

"Come on, Bones, we've got a case!" Booth said as he bounded onto the platform with his characteristic ebullience. He strode quickly across the platform to where his partner stood, peering at some apparently ancient remains. He stopped on the other side of the table from her, leaning towards her.

"Bones!" he said again, louder this time. She finally looked up at him, her blue eyes flashing. "I heard you the first time, Booth; you don't need to shout at me." He flashed a grin and leaned back. "Come on, Bones, let's go! Those bones are gonna be just as ancient when you get back."

She sighed and started to pull off her latex gloves as he waved her off the platform, hurrying her along. "What's the big hurry, Booth? If it's a dead body, it's not going to get any more or less dead in the next few minutes." He laughed and continued to direct her toward her office, his hand on her back. "Good one, Bones! It's not getting anymore dead, but I know how you hate to have the evidence compromised and the longer we leave it laying around, the more likely it is something important might go missing." She huffed and rolled her eyes, but quickly stripped off her lab coat and grabbed her go bag.

Once they were in Booth's SUV and on the road, Brennan asked, "Ok, so what do we have?" Booth tossed her a case file and said, "Some woman was taking an afternoon walk on the land around her office building and noticed something sticking up out of the leaves near the trail. She pulled some of them back and found skeletonized remains. She hightailed it back to the office and called the locals. Given the condition of the body, they called us." Brennan frowned as she reviewed the limited information they had. "I hope she didn't disturb the scene too much," she muttered, flipping through the pages.

Booth snickered. "I don't think she was real interested in sticking around to touch anything once she realized she was looking at a dead human, Bones. Not everyone's as fascinated by rotting corpses as you are, you know." She glared at him. "I'm not fascinated by rotting corpses, Booth, there's too much flesh. You know I prefer skeletal remains," she said testily. It was Booth's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, right, sorry, what was I thinking?"

When they arrived at the crime scene, Brennan immediately set to work. Booth stood by, notebook ready, waiting for her initial impressions. FBI crime scene techs scurried nearby, collecting samples and searching the surrounding area.

After carefully clearing away the leaves and the debris covering the body, Brennan got her first good look at the skeleton. "The bones are mostly devoid of flesh, " she noted. "So I would estimate the remains have been here for at least six to nine months. Hodgins should be able to get a more accurate time frame with soil samples." She paused, leaning closer to get a better look. "Female, age 18-23. Never given birth, given the shape of the pelvis. Relatively small prognathism, oval shaped nasal cavity and rounded orbital shape indicate Asian descent. " She stopped suddenly and leaned forward to brush more debris off the ribs. She took a deep breath and looked up at Booth.

He stopped writing and glanced at her. Her expression made him kneel down next to her, careful not to disturb anything. "What, Bones? What do you see?" She motioned to the ribcage, drawing his attention. "Look at the marks on the ribs. There are cut marks on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th ribs, as well as the sternum and menubrium." The marks were well-defined and Booth could see them clearly. He frowned and said, "Ok, cut marks, a lot of them…." He trailed off, waiting for her to explain further. "Yes, Booth, a lot of them," she said, gesturing impatiently at body. "These marks were made with a great deal of force, reflecting repeated, violent stabbing. And look, they may actually go completely through the thoracic cavity to the thoracic vertebrae." Booth nodded, catching up with her now. "Classic overkill," he said. "Lots of rage here."

Brennan opened her mouth to agree when they were interrupted by a shout from one of the FBI techs. "Agent Booth! Dr. Brennan!" the tech called. The pair stood and looked further into the forest to where the tech was pointing. "I think I've found another body!"

With a quick glance at each other, the partners moved quickly to the area of the woods the FBI tech had been searching. Brennan knelt and began brushing away the accumulated leaves and dirt. A cursory examination had her looking up at Booth and nodding. "Damn," Booth murmured and turned to the agents who had gathered nearby. "Ok, guys, this whole area needs to be thoroughly searched. We may have found a dumping ground. I want a grid set up and every inch of this place gone over with a fine tooth comb. All the evidence goes back to the Jeffersonian."

It was late into the evening before the search of the woods was complete. Brennan had examined each of the bodies as they were uncovered, directing the best recovery technique for each before moving on. Booth approached her quietly as she supervised the latest find. "Bones?" She met his eyes and nodded slowly, answering his unspoken question. "How many total?" she asked softly. "I lost count...." He closed his eyes as his head dropped back. "20 total. There haven't been anymore in the last two hours, so it looks like we've found them all." His eyes drifted over her and noted how exhausted she looked. "Come on, everything will be transported back to the lab and you can start in the morning. Let's get something to eat and then catch some sleep."

Brennan started to protest, but realized from the look on his face that Booth wasn't taking no for an answer. "Alright," she said, gathering up her gear. "We'll start fresh tomorrow."


	2. Processing and Processing

**A/N**: Sorry for the long delay in updating this! I've been a little stumped as to where I want to go! Hope it was worth the wait! Please leave a comment...any kind of comment is great! :)

**Disclaimer**: Seriously? Ok, I still don't own anything related to Bones, just playing with it nicely.

* * *

Chapter 2 - Processing and Processing

When Booth entered the lab the next morning at 8AM sharp, he found Bones and Cam already hard at work over a set of remains. Elsewhere, the lab was bustling with activity as the scientists tried to process the overwhelming amount of evidence 20 sets of remains could generate.

Swiping his card, Booth hopped up the stairs to the center of the platform. Cam looked up first. "Morning Seeley," she said, as she delicately removed some of the remaining flesh from the body they were examining.

"Hey, Camille," he responded. "What have we got?"

Cam shook her head and continued her examination. "Well, I've got all the interns at work on the skeletal remains, the techs are processing all the other evidence as quickly as we can, but there's a lot to look at, obviously." She nodded at the body in front of them. "This is the newest set of remains. I'd estimate at least TOD at something like four weeks ago. There's still some flesh remaining, so I'll be able to run a tox screen, DNA, and the like for this victim." Booth nodded, staring at the remains of the young woman on the table. "Oh," Cam continued, "Angela's at work on facial reconstruction. She's plugging them into the system as fast as the interns can create the tissue markers. You might want to check with her and see if she's got anything on ids yet."

During this exchange, Brennan had remained bent over the body, measuring, swabbing, and shining the lighted magnifier over each of the stab wounds marking the ribcage. Booth stepped closer to her, and asked, "Bones? Have you found anything yet?"

Brennan didn't look up from her task as she replied. "The same as the rest of the victims, Booth. Multiple stab wounds, some penetrating to the thoracic vertabrae. The weapon appears to be a dual-edged knife. I'll be able to tell more as the remains are cleaned and I can get some impressions. I'm also finding particulates embedded in the wounds, so perhaps Hodgins will be able to assist with weapon identification and confirm if the victims were killed in that clearing."

Booth nodded again, still somewhat stunned at the level of violence present in these deaths. He cleared his throat and stepped away, intending to see Angela about victim identification. He chanced another glance at Brennan, hoping she'd looked up, wanting to see her face, see if she was ok, but she was totally involved in her work. He sighed and strode towards Angela's office.

A table had been set up in Angela's office to contain all the skulls as they were processed. Booth closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath at the site of so many lives cut short. Angela's reply to his greeting was subdued for her and he knew she struggled in dealing with so much death thrown at her all at once. "Have you been able to make any identifications yet, Ange?" he asked quietly, standing behind her as she entered data into her computer system.

Angela looked up at him, her eyes tired, clouded with emotion and exhaustion. "Yeah, I've got a couple of probables that came back through the missing persons database based on the reconstructions. I'm still entering data and processing everything. It'll be several more hours before all the..." she paused and swallowed hard. "Before all the girls are entered into the system." She gestured toward the stack of papers on the corner of the desk. "Those are the probables in that stack there. I'll call you when I get through some more."

Booth squeezed her shoulder gently before picking up the stack of files from the end of the desk. "Thanks, Ange," he said softly, moving toward the door and pulling out his cell phone. "We'll get through this." He walked toward Brennan's office this time, making calls to the other FBI agents on the case to get them started on the ids Angela had provided. Everything would have to verified through dentals or DNA before they could start notifying the families. He sighed and snapped the phone shut as he entered Brennan's office.

Brennan was still on the platform, so Booth plopped down on the sofa, leaning back against it, he rubbed his hands over his face. He'd only been at the lab a short time and he was already tired. This case was going to be a monster to deal with and they'd only just begun. Cases like this made him wonder if maybe Bones was right after all. Maybe this was all just too much. Maybe there wasn't really any point to what they did. Clearly someone had been killing young women right under their noses for God knows how long and no one had put the pieces together. He took a deep breath and gave his head a violent shake in the hope of dislodging those thoughts. No, what they did was important, damn it! They gave families closure, gave victims a face and a story, brought justice to those who thought they could destroy it. They made a difference, made an important contribution.

Booth's cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. Probably to the better, he thought. "Booth," he said. It was Charlie, one of the agents working the new case. "Yeah, ok, thanks Charlie, I've got it." They'd confirmed the identity of one of the more recent victims through dental records and he needed to talk to the family. He huffed another long sigh and pulled himself off the sofa.

"Bones," he called as he approached the platform. "We've got a positive id with dentals on the second to last victim. You want to go with me to talk to the family?" Brennan finished making notes for the body in front of her, turned to him and nodded. She pulled off her gloves, and strode off the platform, leaving instructions for the nearest intern. "Make sure that once Dr. Saroyen releases the body you get the remaining flesh removed as soon as possible. Once you've completed that, please begin making casts of the stab wounds. I'd like to look at them as soon as I return." The intern nodded and scurried away.

Booth met her at the bottom of the platform stairs with her trenchcoat and go bag. She shrugged off her lab coat, laid it on a nearby station and slipped into the coat. Booth's hand found its customary place at the small of her back as he guided her out of the Jeffersonian to his SUV.

A short time later, Booth was knocking at the door of the family of Andrea Gooden. Her parents had reported her missing three months ago after she failed to return home from her college courses one evening. Mrs. Gooden answered the door. "Can I help you?"

Booth displayed his badge, "Yes, Mrs. Gooden. I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth and this here's my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan. We're here about your daughter, Andrea."

Mrs. Gooden blanched and her face whitened. "Oh no, no, no..." she gasped.

"Please, Mrs. Gooden, may we come in?" Booth asked gently. The grief stricken woman nodded slowly and stepped to the side, opening the door a little further to allow them entry.

After showing them into the sitting area in the living room and offering them a drink, Mrs. Gooden sat perched on the edge of a well worn floral loveseat, looking at them expectantly. "You've found her then? You've found Andrea?"

"Yes, Mrs. Gooden. I'm afraid we found her remains yesterday in a wooded area near an office park," Booth said. "What can you tell us about Andrea and the day she disappeared?"

They learned that Andrea had been a student at a local university, a sophomore. She'd gone to class the day of her disappearance, but hadn't been seen since then. Mrs. Gooden couldn't think of anyone Andrea had had difficulty with, no bad breakups, no broken friendships. Unfortunately, they didn't learn anything appearing to be of immediate use.

On the way back to the Jeffersonian after assuring Mrs. Gooden they were doing everything possible to find the person who killed her daughter, the partners were silent, pursuing their own thoughts. As they pulled back into the parking garage, Booth's phone chimed.

"Booth," he answered. "What? You're kidding!" Brennan looked over at him curiously, but Booth was intent on whatever the person on the line was telling him. "Damn it, damn it! How did he get past..." he muttered, and looked at Brennan, a solemn expression darkening his face. "Alright, we'll be there in 20 minutes. Shut everything down until we get there."

Booth snapped the phone shut and put the SUV in reverse.

"Booth?" Brennan asked,somehow knowing what he was going to say. He nodded an answer to her unspoken question as he raced back out of the garage and onto the busy street.

"Yeah, they've found another body. Same place."


	3. Profile of a Killer

Chapter 3 - Profile of a Killer

Booth and Brennan arrived at the crime scene as quickly as traffic would allow, finding the FBI evidence techs already at work. Brennan moved immediately to the body, Booth right behind her.

"Another young woman, same approximate age," Brennan said. "Cause of death appears to be stabbing. Judging by the lack of decomposition, I would say this victim was only killed and buried in the last 24-48 hours. Cam should be able to tell us more specifically when she completes the autopsy."

Booth nodded, taking notes, then directed the crime scene team to wrap the body and get it to the Jeffersonian immediately. He then made his way to the agents who'd been in charge of securing the scene.

"What the hell happened here? How'd he get in here, bury _a body, _and then get back out again without anyone noticing?" he growled, hands on hips.

"We're not really sure yet, Agent Booth," one of the younger agents volunteered. He immediately regretted opening his mouth when the senior agent's furious gaze turned on him.

"You're not really sure yet, Jacobs? Excellent, I'll be sure to pass that along when the AD asks what the hell happened. Better still, I'll have something to tell the press when they ask how we let a serial killer dump a young woman's body right under our fucking noses. Thanks so much for clearing things up for me, agent." He turned back to the group at large. "Find out what happened here ASAP. And get more agents out here to watch this place. If this guy dumps another body out here, we'll all be looking for new jobs," he barked. Turning on his heel, he stalked back to his SUV, leaving the junior agents staring at the ground behind him.

Behind Booth, a set of cold, dark eyes watched his progress. The eyes followed Booth to the SUV and settled on Brennan as Booth opened the door for her, handing her her bag. The eyes then watched the vehicle speed from the scene, kicking up a small dust cloud in its wake. A small smile crossed the watcher's face, but was quickly masked. Everything was going to be alright after all.

~~~B&B~~~

It was evening when Booth made his way back to the Jeffersonian. He found Brennan in her office, reviewing X rays of the most recent body.

"Hey, Bones," he said, leaning a hip against her desk and scanning the files he'd brought with him. "Find anything interesting yet?"

Brennan looked up from her X rays. Her eyes drifted briefly over his profile noting how tired he looked already. They'd only been on the case a short time, but with so many bodies, so many young women, it was already a difficult case. Plus, she knew how upset he was that the killer had managed to kill another young woman and drop the body right in front of the FBI.

When she didn't answer immediately, Booth looked up from the files to find her gaze fixed on him. He read the concern there and smiled at her, trying to reassure her he was fine. "Bones?" he said.

"No, not anything more than what we already had. Hodgins was able to pull quite a bit of detritus from the remains, but he's not finished analyzing everything yet." She paused, her eyes searching his face. "We'll find him, Booth," she said quietly. "We're the best, right?"

He stood and snapped the folder shut. "Right," he said with another swift smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Of course we're the best, Bones. Always get our man."

She frowned, looking back at her files, thinking perhaps she'd missed something. "Our man? We don't know the killer is a man yet, Booth."

Booth rolled his eyes. "It's a motto, Bones. Like the Mounties. They always get their man."

"Since there are plenty of women who also commit crimes, I would say that's quite an inaccurate statement," Brennan replied. "Are the Mounties not committed to catching female perpetrators as well?"

Booth laughed and this time his humor was genuine. "Yeah, Bones, I think the Mounties arrest women too." He snickered again as he watched the confusion and a little frustration slide across her face.

But his amusement was interrupted by a knock at the door. Dr. Sweets stuck his head in and said, "Are you ready for me, Agent Booth?"

Booth stood and motioned Sweets into the office. Answering Brennan's questioning look, he said, "I asked Sweets to come up with a preliminary profile. Maybe give us something to look for, something to do until we find some more evidence."

Brennan looked skeptical, as she always did when it came to psychology, but she nodded and stood.

The three moved over to the seating area in the center of the office. Booth and Brennan settled in the armchairs, while Sweets flopped on the sofa, tossing a thick file onto the coffee table between them.

"Whatcha got, Sweets," Booth said, leaning back in the chair to put his feet up on the table. "Anything at all useful?"

Sweets sighed and propped his head on the back of the sofa. "Well, I don't suppose Dr. Brennan would find anything short of me pulling the killer out a hat at all useful, but I did apply my totally mad skills to the case at hand to come up with a brilliant preliminary set of findings, if I do say so myself."

Booth sniggered, "Yeah, sorry kid, but you will have to say so yourself since you're not gonna get any kind of compliment like that from here."

Sweets closed his eyes and shook his head before leaning forward to rest his forearms against his knees. "Yeah, I got it. God knows I'll never get any validation of my work from either of you."

"No, of course not, Sweets, you're not really a scientist. However, your insights have, on limited occasions, proved somewhat useful, so please proceed with your profile," Brennan interjected.

"So, wow, with that ringing endorsement," Sweets replied, "here's what I can tell you so far." He leaned forward even further, as if about to impart some great secret. "This guy? He's totally loony tunes. Nuttier than a fruitcake. He's ..."

Booth interrupted with a snort. "Yeah, Sweets, we've got it. We knew he was crazy already, that's why we called you in. Please, for the love of all that's holy, tell me you can give me something more substantial than something you got from a Cracker Jack box!"

Sweets rolled his eyes, but put on his "serious" doctor face. "Alright, here's what I can tell you. This guy is an organized, power and control oriented serial killer. He's not in it for the game, and he's not on a mission. Obviously, there's a lot of rage here given the amount of overkill, but he's not completely out of control and ultimately he gets off on the fear and terror he evokes from his victims. Further, he's waaay angry at women." He paused and waived off the "we knew that" comments he knew were coming. "Yeah, I know, that's clear, but it's not clear _what_ he's angry about at this point. He's not recreating some scene from his past since the victims are all so different. My feeling is that he's stalking them ahead of time. He meets them somewhere, probably something casual they'd never remember...maybe they were in line together at the coffee shop or something. Anyway, he feels there's some kind of connection formed between them. But then when he finally approaches them, tries to act on this "connection," he doesn't get whatever it is he's seeking. That's when the rage consumes him and he kills them."

"What about the dumping ground?" Booth asked. "Is there some kind of significance to the location?"

Sweets nodded, flipping to the crime scene photos in his file. "Absolutely. If he was just trying to get rid of the bodies, he could have dumped them somewhere near to where he killed them and they'd be all over the place. There's clearly something significant about the wooded area. I would suggest that it reminds him in some way of whatever it is he's looking for from these women. Perhaps he witnessed something in his childhood...I can't be sure without more data."

Booth nodded, clearly thinking about all the implications of Sweets' theories. "Ok, so we're looking for a really angry nutcase, anything else?"

"Well, keep in mind that this guy isn't going to be some kind of drooling nightmare with "I'm angry" stamped on his forehead. He's going to be highly functioning, no outward signs of his psychopathy. Think Ted Bundy, not Freddy Krueger." Sweets leaned back against the sofa again and said, "Have you found anything odd on the bodies yet?"

Booth looked to Brennan, who shook her head. "No, nothing out of the ordinary so far. But many of the bodies were already skeletonized, so if something was there, it's likely gone now."

"But you do have a recent kill, don't you?"

"Yes, Cam's doing the autopsy now. I estimated time of death at no more than 24-48 hours ago, so there was plenty of flesh," Brennan replied, her lips forming a small moue of distaste at the word "flesh."

"Excellent," Sweets exclaimed, standing quickly. "We need to tell Dr. Saroyen to look for any foreign objects inserted somewhere in the body."

"Huh?" Booth said, looking at Sweets skeptically. "An object?"

"Yeah," Sweets replied, walking toward the door. "This guy's signature is definitely going to involve objects."

Booth and Brennan stood quickly and followed Sweets out toward the autopsy room. "What do you mean, Sweets? His signature?" Brennan asked, frowning.

Sweets slowed to allow her to walk with him. "Yes, Dr. Brennan. Most serial killers have some type of signature linking their crimes together. Some will pose the victims a particular way, often in positions with a sexual overtone. Others will insert an object of some kind on the body." He could see she was still frowning and tried to think of a way to make it more clear. "It's sort of like when killers take souvenirs. Something to remember the kill, something they can use to recreate the feeling of it later. In this case, I think the killer will leave something behind...a souvenir for the victim if you will. And this object will link to the reason he's killing these women."

Brennan nodded as she pulled open the door to the autopsy room. "I understand. But I'm still not sure I see how it will lead to the killer."

Sweets just smiled and nodded a greeting to Cam.

"What's up?" Cam asked, looking up from the brain she was extracting from the latest victims skull.

Brennan moved to answer before Sweets could even open his mouth. "Dr. Sweets here feels that there will probably be some kind of foreign object placed in the body and it will indicate why the perpetrator is killing these women."

Cam raised an eyebrow at Sweets as she set the brain onto a scale to be weighed. "Really?"

Sweets shook his head and sighed. "No, it's not really that simple at all. Contrary to Dr. Brennan's beliefs, psychology is not magic." He held up his hands in surrender as the group snickered. "Ok, fine, whatever. But I still strongly suggest you check the body. And I guarantee you, it'll be important to identifying the killer." With that, he turned and stalked from the room, shaking his head in frustration.

With a grin, Booth said, "You don't suppose we hurt his feelings did we?"

Cam smirked and returned to her examination of the body. Her smile faded and she raised wide eyes to Booth and Brennan as she pulled the heart from the chest cavity.

"What is it, Cam?" Booth asked, stepping closer to the table and peering at the body with a grimace.

"You should probably get Sweets back here," she said, as she carefully dissected the heart with her scalpel. "I think I found something embedded in the victim's heart."

* * *

**A/N: **Ok, wow, I know it's been a long while since I updated this. I've been on sort of my own hiatus and apparently my muse decided to take a summer vacation without giving me any notice. But I'm back and I think the muse is in residence again! Special thanks to **Rochelle Templer** and **jsq** for their not-so-subtle nudging to get me back on this story. Thanks bunches for your encouragement and support! Extra special thanks to **blindassasin** for being so kind as to re-read the previous 2 chapters and make many helpful suggestions on where this story could go. Several of her ideas are incorporated here and will be used in later chapters, so she has my eternal thanks for helping me get past my writer's block! All three of these fabulous folks are fantastic writers here, so please go read their stories! So, thanks for reading and please let me know if you like where this is going!


	4. Embedded

Chapter 4 - Embedded

Booth took two quick steps and pulled the door open. He spotted the still clearly annoyed Sweets three quarters of the way across the lab and hollered, "Sweets! Get your ass back in here, Cam found something!"

Sweets stopped dead in his tracks, turning slowly back toward Booth. A huge grin lit his face, and he started to jog across the lab. He slipped past Booth into the autopsy room, his grin widening when he saw the startled looks on Cam and Brennan's faces. "What is it?" he asked breathlessly. "What did you find and where was it located?"

Cam gestured to the draped tray next to the autopsy table. "That's it. It was embedded in the heart." She shook her head. "I've got to say, that's a new one for me."

Sweets leaned over the tray, reaching out a hand.

"Don't touch it," Brennan snapped. "Hodgins will have to swab it first, there may be particulates we can use."

Sweets withdrew his hand sharply, but leaned closer to the object. "It looks like..." He paused, lifting his gaze to the others in the room. "It's a heart."

No further discussion was needed for the moment. Brennan left to tell the interns examining the previous bodies to look for other objects in or near the bodies, possibly heart-shaped. Cam snatched up the tray, whisking the item away to Hodgins for analysis and cleaning. Booth pulled out his phone as he left the room to check with the forensics teams to see if they'd found anything unusual in their analysis.

Sweets was left alone to stare in their wake, shaking his head in frustrated amusement.

B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B

Several hours later, the team gathered back on the platform to hear the results of the varied investigative avenues. Cam gestured to Hodgins to begin.

"I wasn't able to retrieve anything useful in the way of particulates, I'm afraid. It had been cleaned pretty well before it was inserted into the body," Hodgins said. "But I did find something interesting." He turned to the computer and punched a few buttons. An enlarged picture of the object appeared on the various video screens surrounding them. "As you can see, it is heart-shaped, as Sweets thought. However, notice the marks around the edges?" He further enlarged the picture, focusing on the edges of the shape. "Those are tool marks. This thing was hand-crafted."

"Hand-crafted? Hand-crafted from what?" Booth asked, a frown creasing his face as he leaned closer to the computer screen.

Hodgins grinned and bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly excited about this portion of his findings. "Excellent question, Booth, thank you for asking."

Booth rolled his eyes and gestured for Hodgins to get on with his explanation. Cam also flashed the scientist her patented glare.

Grin still in place, Hodgins switched views on the monitors to a chemical analysis. "Ladies and gentlemen, meet _Rhamnus zeyheri_, otherwise known as Pink Ivory. It's an exotic species, found primarily in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was long known as the royal wood of the Zulu tribe and in the 1900's, it was said that non-royal owners would be subject to death if found in possession of the wood. Nowadays, it's favored by wood carvers to make smaller items, like our heart here, because of its color."

Booth cleared his throat, interrupting Hodgins' dissertation. "Yeah, right, got it, it's lovely. What can you tell us about the tools and can you tell us where someone would lay hands on this stuff here in the States."

Hodgins switched the view yet again, and this time it was a series of pictures of woodworker's tools. "This type of wood is quite dense, so it requires sharp tools. I'm still working on exact models, but I should have something shortly. As far as suppliers go, there are only a few places you can get this stuff. No one local, but there are several internet sites selling it."

"Alright, get me the list of those websites and I'll get a warrant for their client lists," Booth replied, already opening his phone to call Charlie and get him started on the warrants.

Brennan stepped forward next, taking the computer input from Hodgins. "Once the team had something more concrete to look for, they were able to locate what remained of the wooden hearts in all but two of the remains." She tapped a few keys and images of 18 wooden hearts, in varying stages of completeness, appeared on the screen. "Hodgins has been able to determine that all the objects bear the same tool marks and appear to have been carved by the same person."

Booth sighed, rolling his head from side to side, trying to loosen the tension in his shoulders. "Ok, great, we know the guy killed all these girls, and we know he carved these heart things. Maybe we'll get something from those suppliers." He turned his attention back to Brennan. "Do we have a murder weapon yet?"

"Yes," Brennan replied, as she pulled up yet another image on the screens. "It's a standard issue Marine KA-BAR knife."

Booth waved a hand, shaking his head. "You can get those things at any militay surplus store. Common as dirt."

Hodgins snorted and rolled his eyes. "While I hate the term "dirt," he said, making quotation marks in the air as he said it, "this one has something a little un-common about it."

Rolling his eyes, Booth said, "Fine, common as...something common. Whatever. So what's special about this completely common sort of knife?"

Hodgins pulled up the pictures of the wound reconstrutions and zoomed in on the edges. "As you can see, the wound track is smooth most of the way around, as it should be for this type of knife. However, if you look at the base of the wound, there's a very small change in the kerf marks."

Booth stared at Hodgins with his best glazed too-much-squint-talk face.

"There's a knick in the blade at the base of the knife," Hodgins said simply.

Booth clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Ok, a knick in the blade! We can work with that. If we find a knife, we should be able to match it back up to the marks. Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Brennan and Hodgins exchanged looks. "But he did say that, Booth, twice now," Brennan said, looking at him curiously.

Booth snickered, and turned to step down off the platform. "Uh, yeah, whatever, Bones. I'm going back to the Hoover to see how Charlie's doing with those warrants and see where Sweets is on the updated profile. Call me if you find anything else, ok?"

B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B

Gentle snicking was the only sound filling the air, and that was how he liked it. It was important to him to be able to spend time here in his workshop. The smell of the wood, the feel of it beneath his fingers, the soft sounds of the tools as he chipped away at it, forming it into the exact shape he wanted. It was heaven. There were never any disappointments here. The wood would do exactly as he desired, it could be molded to his will. It was perfect.

He had always seen the shapes in the wood. Could tell they wanted to come out, wanted to be released from their confines. Needed to be released. And he could help them. In his hands, he could free the shapes, make them come to life.

He sighed softly, carefully running his hands over the wood, feeling for defects, making sure he was pulling the shape out exactly as it should be. He had seen someone today, someone new. He smiled to himself, whistling tunelessly as he smoothed the rough edges of his latest piece. It was a larger composition than he normally worked on, but this one was important. He'd finally found the one, the one he'd been searching for for so long.

And this piece had to be just right for her.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, it's been forever and a day since I worked on this, but I'm afraid my muse has completely left the building lately! This chapter is only existence thanks to the persistent persistence (read: harassment) of MaliBearsBuddy, jsq & Misery Maker. They are a lovely, if pushy bunch, and this is dedicated for them! If you're not reading their excellent work on this site, you should be! I'm really going to try to get this finished, so if anyone's still out there reading this, I appreciate your patience.


End file.
